4th Quarter Rotating Bonus Categories (Oct to Dec 2017)

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It’s hard to believe that we’re at the end of the third quarter for 2017. A new quarter means that we have new rotating bonus categories for our credit cards, specifically the Chase Freedom, Discover It, and Citi Dividend card. I’ll go through each one and share the new card bonus categories.

Before we go through each card, I wanted to let you know that we put together a wallet-sized cheat sheet that you can download for free from our website. If you’re like me and can’t remember the categories, this should be helpful.

Chase Freedom

For the Chase Freedom card, we’re ending the third quarter bonus categories of restaurants and movie theaters. Starting October 1st until the end of December, you’ll earn 5% on purchases from Walmart and department stores. Walmart charges include those from SuperCenters, Walmart Neighborhood Markets, Walmart.com, and Walmart branded gas stations.

For department stores, the stores listed that qualify for the bonus includes JCPenney, Kohl’s, Macy’s, Nordstrom, and Nordstrom Rack.

To be honest, I’m a little disappointed with Chase’s fourth quarter bonus category. In the past, Chase has offered Amazon and other department stores as their bonus category, which was more useful and valuable for me.

Discover It

For the Discover card, we are also ending the third quarter bonus category of restaurants and entering the 4th quarter on October 1st with a 5% bonus category of Amazon.com and Target. This works great for me as I’ll likely do most of my holiday shopping at Amazon and Target.

Citi Dividend

Lastly, the Citi Dividend users are ending the third quarter bonus category of Hilton and airline purchases. Starting October 1st, they will receive 5% at Best Buy and Department Stores. Citi defines department stores as “larger merchants that sell a general line of apparel, home furnishings, furniture, electronics, cosmetics, housewares and major appliances. They have several departments that usually have separate checkout counters.” I would assume that it’s similar to Chase’s definition.

Don’t forget to activate your bonus!

Makes sure you log-in and activate the bonus for these cards. While you can wait until Dec 14th to activate your Chase Freedom bonus category since Chase will award the points retroactively, you’re better off doing it now before you forget. Unfortunately, Discover and Citi won’t award you a bonus until you activate it, so do it now before you forget.